Job Description
We are looking for an experienced MS SQL Server DBA, largely responsible for providing operational database services to the organization.
The Financial technology space "Fintech" is booming, and Guaranteed Rate is at the center of it. We are growing like crazy and are one of the most successful Chicago startups. We are focused on automating the mortgage process for consumers. Imagine getting a mortgage with no email, no faxing, no stack of papers in 10 days or less instead of 40 or more! If you have been through the process of buying a home, you know how amazing this will be. We are the #5 lender in the country and one of only 2 that is independent (not a bank) so we are in a good spot to win this race. We have already made tremendous strides and we are looking for someone who wants to help us finish the job and disrupt the entire industry.
Who is GR?
Guaranteed Rate is not your typical company and certainly not your typical mortgage company. We are technology driven, have tons of energy and we love what we do - great people and great products alongside our impeccable customer service (83 NPS, unheard of!). We're in a River North office with exposed brick and duct work, windows we can actually open during the summer. The awesomeness doesn't end there, we also have:
- Holiday parties? We got'em! Not just major holidays, any holiday.... Mardi Gras, Valentine's Day, St. Paddy's Day, Opening Day, Boxing Day (for our Canadian employee), Sweetest Day, Groundhog Day, etc..
- Game room, library and white board paint for collaboration - yeah, it's awesome.
- Access to our free GR nurse practitioner. Psshh who needs a doctor's appointment when our nurse can do it all? Did we mention the free part?
- 401k with some matching, Blue Cross health care coverage - yup, dental and vision too, short-term disability, life insurance - we got ya covered on this one, legal assistance - for a small monthly fee.
- Oh, and did we mention you get a big fat employee discount on the origination fees to get a new mortgage or refinance thru Guaranteed Rate?
So what do we want from you?
The MS SQL Server DBA, on the Database Administration Team will take responsibility for database administration and delivery here at Guaranteed Rate. This is a production DBA role, as such it will require a commitment on your part as well as ours. Some of the primary responsibilities of this role would include owning, tracking and resolving database related incidents and requests, fulfilling requests and resolving incidents within SLAs, reviewing service related reports (e.g: database backups, maintenance, monitoring) on a daily basis to ensure service related issues are identified and resolved within established SLAs, responding to database related alerts and escalations and working with database engineering to come up with strategic solutions to recurring problems.
This MS SQL Server DBA role requires a service oriented mentality, high sense of ownership of the problems and requests assigned, focus on managing and resolving issues in alignment with the SLAs, establishing and maintaining communication with technology customers to keep them updated with status of their requests, initiating and performing changes on production systems and proactively escalating any issues that cannot be resolved within the established timeframes.
During your interview you will be asked to discuss a project or particular piece of technology that excites you. We will ask you questions on that project or piece of technology in order to get a better understanding of the depth of your knowledge.
This role requires good communication skills. If you have a blog then please pass along the URL so we can review your work. If you do not actively blog that is fine, but you should be prepared to show us an example of something you have written previously if we should happen to ask.
Required Experience
- Experience with Database Administration for MSSQL Server.
- Experience with MSSQL Server in the cloud, specifically Amazon AWS.
- Experience in troubleshooting and resolving database problems.
- Experience in Performance Tuning and Optimization (PTO), using native monitoring and troubleshooting tools.
- Experience with backups, restores and recovery models.
- Knowledge of High Availability (HA) and Disaster Recovery (DR) options for MSSQL Server, in the cloud and on-prem
- Experience in implementing operational automation using scripts.
- Knowledge of indexes, index management, and statistics.
- Experience working with Windows server, including Active Directory and proper disk configurations.
- Good if not great communication and documentation skills.
Preferred Experience
- Involvement with the MSSQL Server Community; membership in PASS, active in forums or newsgroups.